DAMMAM, 19 June 2003 — The Ministry of Information in cooperation with other government agencies has cracked down on the sale of pirated compact discs, DVDs and other software. But the sale of pirated video cassettes is still thriving in Dammam, Alkhobar and Al-Ahsa and the authorities are now contemplating moves to put an end to their sales.
In recent months the authorities have conducted several raids at suspected locations where pirated CDs were written, prepared and sold. Thousands of pirated CDs and DVDs were seized in these raids and destroyed. Many arrests were made and people involved in the trade were fined.
In Alkhobar, the prime location for pirated CDs and software has been the Gulf Center near the Corniche. At one point the pirated editions were sold openly and there were well-established outlets for them. The authorities warned the vendors and then conducted raids and seized pirated goods. The shops in the center were removed but the business still thrived outside it.
There were some dealers who piled pirated CDs and software in the trunks of their vehicles, parked them at the parking lot of the Gulf Center and conducted business from there. But a majority of the dealers posted their touts outside the center. The pirated software and CDs were stored nearby. When the authorities cracked down on this, dealers of pirated CDs and software found that they had nowhere to operate from. The Information Ministry pledged that it would implement the country’s copyright law and nab all those violating it — dealers and buyers.
However, in the midst of the operation, the sales of pirated video cassettes still thrived and today there are over a hundred video libraries in the region which openly sell and rent pirated video cassettes. In the past the Ministry of Information canceled the license of video parlors and closed many of them down and fined some heavily.
The owners of many video parlors say they are virtually forced into the sale of pirated films because of the high costs of the original film charged by authorized distributors. “There are very few distributors in the whole of the Gulf region, and they have a virtual monopoly. If the government wants to completely eradicate the sale of pirated films, then it is necessary that prices be regulated at the distributor end,” the owner of a video parlor in Dammam told Arab News.
